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You are here: Home / Homeland Insecurity

Homeland Insecurity

by John Cole|  June 20, 20052:24 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: Outrage

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Good thing we are taking the war on terror so seriously:

Sixteen foreign-born construction workers with phony immigration documents were able to enter a nuclear weapons plant in eastern Tennessee because of lax security controls, a federal report said Monday.

Controls at the Y-12 weapons plant have since been tightened and there was no evidence the workers had access to any sensitive documents, said the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons facilities for the Department of Energy.

However, the DOE inspector general’s office said in the report issued Monday that its field agents found “official use only” documents “lying unprotected in a construction trailer which was accessed by the foreign construction workers” at the plant.

“Thus, these individuals were afforded opportunities to access … (this) information,” the inspector general wrote. “We concluded that this situation represented a potentially serious access control and security problem.”

The report, initiated by a tip in 2004, said the workers had fake green cards that certified them to work in the United States. Their cases were turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for deportation.

It is hard to figure out exactly how many departments failed on this one, but we can throw in INS, DOE, and DOHS for starters. Maybe we should spend some more time selling “I Heart Gitmo” t-shirts because everyone knows that is the cure for terrorism. Not, you know, taking illegal immigration and the security of nuclear installations seriously.

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Reader Interactions

11Comments

  1. 1.

    Kimmitt

    June 20, 2005 at 2:31 pm

    Don’t forget nuclear proliferation.

  2. 2.

    Rick

    June 20, 2005 at 2:32 pm

    Maybe we should spend some more time selling “I Heart Gitmo,” because everyone knows that is the cure for terrorism. Not, you know, taking illegal immigration and the security of nuclear installations seriously.

    One of your port-side guests taught me this one (inappropriately directed at me, but it was worth seeing): sequiter, meet non.

    Cordially…

  3. 3.

    jcricket

    June 20, 2005 at 2:51 pm

    John – That reminds me of the whole mess with the TSA – depsite millions of dollars in “upgrades”, independent tests show we’re still just as vulnerable to flight-based terrorism.

    It would be nice if people were actually focused on these very real, requires hard work issues, rather than the sound-bite-based political grandstanding that passes for “supporting the war on terror”.

  4. 4.

    James Emerson

    June 20, 2005 at 3:50 pm

    Right off hand, I have to wonder why even a legitimate green card holding foreign born contruction worker is allowed on a nuclear weapons facility. Does a contractor’s need for cheap labour trump national security?

    Apparently so…

  5. 5.

    The Lonewacko Blog

    June 20, 2005 at 4:22 pm

    Things like this have happened many times before. They even caught illegal aliens with gang ties working on Navy ships. BICE (the replacement for the INS) has a program specifically targeting cases like this.

    What they aren’t doing is going after the garden variety employers who employ the vast majority of illegals.

    In fact, our government is even making the situation worse. Examples include: teaming up with the Mexican consulate to give home loans to illegal aliens, giving loans to Mexican citizens (note: not Mex-Ams, Mex. citizens) who want to buy U.S. property, Our Leader talking about “kind-hearted people”, etc. etc.

    It’s simple: the left and right elites are corrupt. They could stop illegal immigration if they wanted to.

    In addition to the possibility of terrorists being smuggled across the border, those with a knowledge of history might want to consider whether it’s safe to host millions of people who have allegiances to another country, especially when many of them think of the Southwest U.S. as their “lost territories.”

  6. 6.

    Tim F

    June 20, 2005 at 4:35 pm

    With the entire ship listing port we should be happy for the folks still hanging out at the starboard fringe. If it wasn’t for “Ricky” we’d have tipped over entirely by now.

    Say, how’s Roberta doing?

  7. 7.

    Tim F

    June 20, 2005 at 4:38 pm

    Lonewacko: absent illegals the produce picking, construction, resort-town prep-cook and nanny industries would go into deep recession. Neither left nor right will prevent it entirely because the Chamber of Commerce would ensure that both left and right would find some other line of work.

  8. 8.

    Stormy70

    June 20, 2005 at 5:42 pm

    Starboard fringe, I like it.

    Locking up known terrorists is a separate issue from the borders. This country is running on illegal immigration, just like it always has. I don’t think this problem will ever be sufficiently addressed.

  9. 9.

    The Lonewacko Blog

    June 20, 2005 at 6:02 pm

    Lonewacko: absent illegals the produce picking, construction, resort-town prep-cook and nanny industries would go into deep recession.

    I assume you agree then that our leaders are corrupt.

    As for the quoted text, have you ever been to Maine? They seem to get along quite well without foreign serf labor.

    If all the illegal aliens left the U.S. tomorrow it would cause a good amount of disruption. However, things would work out after a bit: some things would move offshore (strawberry production for instance), new machines would be invented, and people in Beverly Hill might be forced to mow their own lawns. Note also that labor costs account for a fairly small part of the cost of fruits and veggies.

    Non-corrupt people have to sometimes make difficult choices, and they have to take all factors into consideration, not just economic.

    What would you call someone who would allow another country to infiltrate the U.S.?

  10. 10.

    brenda

    June 20, 2005 at 7:56 pm

    If there were no illegals certain sectors of the economy wouldn’t shut down. They would be forced to employ americans at a decent wage with decent health care.

    Here in Minnesota there was a huge meat packing strike in Austin back in..oh, the 80’s I think. Hormel broke the union. Now these jobs are mostly done by immigrants. They get crap wages and no health care and if the knife slips, oh well, too bad for you.

    I have nothing against them, they are just being taken advantage of and treated like crap. What we need is an even playing field for the whole world.

  11. 11.

    Rick

    June 20, 2005 at 9:23 pm

    Tim F,

    You are entertaining a serious case of mistaken identity. Or Tourette’s Syndrome.

    Good luck working out a cure.

    Cordially…

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